Prime
Gen Kavuma unveils new OWC priorities
Maj Gen Sam Kavuma. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- There have been complaints about corruption within OWC and questionable methods used to select beneficiaries.
Maj Gen Sam Kavuma, the new deputy chief coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), the government’s anti-poverty frontline, has flagged access to markets for farm outputs, fighting corruption and accelerating implementation of the parish development model as priorities for his term in office.
Gen Kavuma replaced Lt Gen Charles Angina, who, during the recent Cabinet reshuffle, was posted to Foreign Affairs pending deployment.
Speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, Gen Kavuma said he will review the leadership structure within OWC to optimise performance within the agency and also address any corrupt tendencies.
“There are mainly three new tasks that have been given to OWC. The initial assignment for OWC was to distribute seeds which they did very well. That is why Uganda has surpluses and now the problem is the market,” Gen Kavuma said.
He added: “The second task is to implement National Development Plan 3 (NDP III). It is a task which has been given to OWC and this is what the team must embark on.”
NDPIII goal is to increase household incomes and improve the quality of life of Ugandans.
Gen Kavuma said he will work with other government ministries and agencies to pull poor Ugandans into the money economy.
“The other task is the implementation of the parish development model. But to achieve this, OWC will need to have a structure that will deliver and this is what I will have to embark on. It may involve changes in the existing system,” he said.
There have been complaints about corruption within OWC and questionable methods used to select beneficiaries.
But Gen Kavuma said: “May be there have been reports on corruption within OWC, [but] I will fight corruption if it is there.”
He, however, said the biggest challenge is Covid-19 which hampers them from mobilising communities.
The two-star general and a former aide-de-camp to President Museveni also said he was quoted out of context in our story titled, “Ugandans right to query big Defence money – Gen,” published in Saturday Monitor.
He said both poverty and insecurity are mutually reinforcing, and both should be attacked head-on through appropriate investments.
